I haven’t tried to sell my boar yet, but when the time comes, in a year or less, if I can’t sell him, has anyone butchered their boar? I’ve heard of castrating a full grown boar, but that doesn’t sound like fun at all! I’ve heard the boars have a strong flavor, do we just spice it up more or use it all for sausage? I’d love to hear some comments.

Taint is caused by two compounds, one produced in the intestines and the other in the testes. The first compound, skatole, is stored in the boar’s fat and is responsible for the bad smell and taste. The second compound, androstenone, inhibits the breakdown of skatole by the liver and thus allows more skatole to be stored in the fat. The result is taint. Castration removes the source of androstenone thereby allowing the liver to filter more skatole from the boar.

There are many reasons why castration of a mature boar would not remove any possible taint. Since skatole is stored in fat it would take some time for it to be metabolized. If the boar had enough skatole in its fat to cause taint you might have to wait months before butchering.

Making the hog into sausage would not solve the taint problem. You can’t cover it up.

The good news is that taint is only present in 20% of boars and pastured hogs have it less often than penned boars. Raise it on pasture and there is a good chance it would be fine. Or, sell it and buy a barrow to eat. Or, roll the dice and see what happens. If it turns out bad it could always make good dog food. 😉

I have never done this BUT have heard that the best thing to do with boar meat is to make him into something that is NOT cooked but cured, like salami. Some folks tell me that you cannot taste the taint that way. And yes they do it with Large Blacks.

We have an old boy here who will need to be made into something at some point as sadly I think his breeding days are over.

IMO time is up when he can no longer do his job so there is no specific age. The old boar that I was talking about, we purchased when he was 2 so mature & he was extremely overweight. We saw him in action early on BUT the sow never took & they lived together for several months. Was it her or was it him at fault? We have now put the sow with another boar that we know is very fertile & virile so we are waiting to see what happens. We may give Hammy another chance with another sow this spring & watch very carefully to see if he does anything. He is still very interested, frothing etc BUT his hips may have “had it.” Yet again, the problem could have been the sow so that is why he will get another chance. Being a mature boar we have to put him with a mature sow to match size wise.

Breeders that I have talked to say that boars normally can no longer mount after age 3-4.

Well, boars aren’t any good to me when they become so large that they can’t breed any of my sows. I’ve only had two get that large so far and I found farms that could use them. I try to sell or trade my boars before they get too large.

So, the original question still beckons…what do you do with the old boars? If he’s 3-4 years old and kaput, and you can’t trade him in good conscience, and you’re afraid to butcher the old guy because he might taste badly… what do you do with the old guy. Is it a “Of Mice and Men” moment, getting him to turn the other direction as you blow him away? Mine is three, still breeding, but we’ve kept some of the gilts from earlier litters and don’t want him breeding his offspring. So, what do we do?

If he’s still a good breeder at 3 then sell him but note you may not get as much for him as you would a 18mth old proven breeder. That is another reason why it is so important to keep your breeding stock on the lean side. This will keep the boars fit & able to breed for a lot longer. The one I was talking about of ours came to us SO fat he could not do his job. In fact he was finding it hard to walk & breathe let alone anything else. Once he slimmed down he was much better but alot of damage had already been done.

Of course if you can’t sell him, then consider feeding him to your dogs. Seriously they don’t care about the taint & a big boar will keep them fed for quite some time. Of course you may want to cook the meat outside & not in! LOL!

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